>> it makes good sense. >> we expect a lot from little kids. they're not capable of sitting still for that long of a time. >> i guess i'll take your word on that. >> she's really cute. >> start the discipline early. >> there you go. >> stay with us. "news 4 today" continues at 5:00 a.m. nationals are in the house! >> a celebration decades in the making. your washington nationals are finally n.l. east champions. good morning, everybody. i'm aaron gilchrist. >> and i'm eun yang. welcome to "news 4 today" for this tuesday, october 22nd, 2012. we're going to take a live look outside at 5:00 a.m. 64 degrees. pretty mild out there. few showers left over. i saw some wet cars and windshields on the way to work today. >> but there are no clouds hanging over washington, d.c., right now, at least if you're a nats fan. >> i've got the nbc washington mobile app on my phone.

boom, boom, boom, it was going off last night. what was going on? nationals are the national league east division champs. >> so exciting. >> it was certainly worth getting that alarm out and that alert out to everybody. you probably got those going off on your phone too. this morning we're looking at rain moving in. there's a long line of it that stretched from florida all the way up into pennsylvania. we're right in the middle of it. we are getting some moderate showers, these areas in orange and yellow. warrenton and just about now exiting culpeper county and about to come into prince wil ma william. these are going in the western suburbs from loudoun county and western fairfax. right now montgomery county getting light rain, as is frederick and howard and points west. passing moderate showers there as well. there's some gorgeous color now out in the mountains. it's really looking quite like autumn there. near 70 around the bay now. closer to washington, low to mid-60s. prince george's, montgomery, arlington, fairfax counties. as the day progresses, you'll

need an umbrella. we'll have occasional showers this morning, by 6:00 a.m., still right around 60. by noontime, mid-70s with occasional showers. not constant rain, but passing showers. maybe thunder and lightning when you're heading back home by work and school later this afternoon and into the early evening hours. that shower activity will be tapering off. i'm back with another look at storm team 4 radar. now a look at storm team 4 radar. good morning. a quick hello to everyone working out in the gym. i'm giving tweets from a. herbert ash. if you're in the gym, i admire your hustle. let's head over to the roads. i could not work out this early. as you make your way eastbound, the dulles toll road, the left lane getting you by road work there. also, westbound chain bridge road at tysons boulevard, only the left lane gets by there. and continuing westbound chain bridge road at international drive. left lane gets you by construction there. good news.

that road work should be ending just in a few minutes from now. that's very good news. heading over to 395, guess what? i'm checking your commute next and also a look at your rails. eun, over to you. >> danella, thank you. 5:02 now. this morning nationals fans are celebrating a division title. >> the nationals are eastern division champions. the pirates just beat the braves 2-1. you can celebrate now. >> nats players and fans found out during the ninth inning of the nationals-phillies game. phillies won, but that didn't dampen the celebration. >> i'm sure you dreamed about it for years. is it like you dreamed it to be? >> absolutely. we've got a great group of guys. davie's done a great job all year. for the first time, this is pretty unbelievable. to give us this town, this city, this team, it's speechless. >> awesome. the nats are tied with the cincinnati reds for best record in the national league.

and it's been 79 years since the d.c. baseball team clinched a title, and fans celebrated long after last night's game. many shelled out big bucks for t-shirts, hats, and other gear to commemorate the event. all that's left now is to find out who the nats will take on in the playoffs and when the series will begin. it's four minutes after 5:00 on this tuesday morning, and today is the tenth anniversary of the beltway sniper killing spree. ten people were killed, three others wounded, in a three-week stretch that terrified the d.c. region. the first attack happened in a parking lot in wheaton, maryland. police eventually arrested john allen muhammad and lee boyd malvo for those shootings. they were later convicted. muhammad was executed in 2009. malvo, who was a teenager at the time of the shootings, is currently serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole. police are looking for a guy going around groping american university students. the latest incident happened on sunday night on massachusetts avenue. police say the suspect comes

from behind, grabs girls inappropriately, and then runs away. this happened four times in just the last week. >> luckily, the university, if i feel uncomfortable, i can always call public safety, and they'll escort me to my apartment. so i guess i might be taking advantage of that service more often now with things like this happening. >> the university is telling students to walk in groups and only in well lit areas. they also are asking students to keep their cell phones handy in case they need to call for help. president obama and mitt romney will keep low profiles today as they prepare for their first debate. romney held this rally last night in denver where that first debate will take place tomorrow night. the republican presidential nominee told supporters that creating jobs will be his administration's top priority. president obama did not make any campaign stops yesterday. he is preparing for tomorrow night's debate right now in nevada. senate leaders say they're already working on avoiding the fiscal cliff quickly approaching in january that could have a huge impact on the economy.

here's a live look at the capitol this morning. that cliff, $1 trillion in automatic spending cuts, hits january 1st. but a bipartisan group of senators says that they are working on a three-step process to avoid the cliff. they include reducing the deficit about4 trillion over ten years, an overhaul of the tax code, and changes to medicare and social security. now, if congress can't avoid that cliff, it also means an end to several tax cuts and a huge boost in the action at thats you will pay. the nonpartisan tax policy center estimates the average household will pay $3,500 more in taxes. the two policies which impact the average american the most are payroll taxes and the bush era tax cuts. democrats have already said they will not accept a deal unless tax cuts to americans making more than $250,000 a year are allowed to expire. 5:06. 64 degrees. the phone wars between apple and samsung takes another nasty turn. also ahead, crossing the

line. the incident that has one police officer in hot water this morning.

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welcome back apparently, looking at photos and videos of cute, fuzzy baby animals can help improve your productivity. see, aaron? a team of researchers at hiroshima university recently conducted a study where they showed university students pictures of baby animals before completing board games and puzzles. those who saw the pictures were more attentive to detail than those who were not. one reason for the improvement, people tend to slow down when talking to babyanimals, and that could translate into your work performance. come on. it just improves your mood. i can imagine that would improve efficien efficiency. >> first of all, why are you talking to animals? they're not going to respond. what's the point in that? >> but they're so cute. >> agreed on that. >> the panda on the little obstacle course.

>> yes, if you just talk to a little panda like that, it will help out. i'm sure. time to take a look outside. 64 warm degrees in our studios. let's see how the weather is where you are. >> we feel the same way in storm team 4. we love our barometers and rain gauges, and the rain gauges are filling up. along the blue ridge, they're getting heavy downpours. one of our viewers tweeted it's coming down pretty hard. you see the pockets of yellow and orange just east of the blue ridge from loudoun county to fauquier, rappahannock into the shenandoah valley. locally, hometown forecast, herndon, going to be right near 60 degrees through 7:00 a.m. by noontime, mid-60s with maybe a little thunder and lightning. by 6:00 a.m. around the whole region, hovering near 60. occasional showers through the day, maybe thunder and lightning in the afternoon. we'll take a look at the rest of the week and the weekend in ten minutes. danella has a look at traffic.

good morning. >> good morning. checking out the area. if you're traveling along 395, this is what the live look from glebe road looks like, nice and clear northbound and southbound between the beltway and the 14th street bridge on 395 both directions. not seeing any issues inbound from the district. clear commute. back over to you both. we're getting the latest out of hong kong at this hour after a deadly ferry accident. also ahead, what's to blame for this

i'm angie goff at the news 4 live desk. a 4.1 magnitude earthquake

struck this morning east of pine valley, california. so far no reports of injuries or damage. i'm angie goff at the news 4 live desk. a 10-year-old boy facing charges after police say he stole a van and plowed into several parked cars. this happened over the weekend in philadelphia and was caught on camera. you can see the boy try to get away after that crash. neighbors were able to hold on to him until police got there. a witness said he overheard the boy tell police one of his parents made him do it. and a philadelphia policeman is in the news after someone was caught on camera punching him. the woman got hit by a lieutenant, causing her to fall to the ground. >> i feel angry. really angry. you know, i go to someplace,

have a good time, look at what happened for no reason. >> guzman was cited for disorderly conduct. the officer involved in the incident is a 17-year veteran. he is now on administrative duty pending the outcome of the investigation. we're on top of a developing story in canada. hundreds of residents in winnipeg finally allowed to return home. officials forced them to evacuate last evening because of this huge fire at a racing fuel plant. it took firefighters 17 hours to gain l kro of the fire, which triggered several explosions and fireballs. crews are still on the scene to monitor the situation. no one was seriously hurt. six people have been arrested in hong con aftkong af ferry collided with another boat. that incident last night killed at least 37 people and injured at least 100 others. at least 5 of the people killed were children. the boat was on its way to watch a fireworks display in celebration of china's mid-autumn festival.

it's not clear who's been arrested or what led to that accident. apple is suing samsung. sam ausung said it would add th iphone 5 to its existing suit against apple if the phone was lte capable. it's time for american express to pay up. the credit card company will refund $85 million to about 250,000 customers and pay $27.5 million in fines. the federal reserve and the consumer financial protection bureau says that amex violated federal laws and charged unlawful late fees. american express says customers entitled to the refunds will be notified as soon as possible. home and furniture store ikea under fire for apparently air brushing women out of photos in one of its catalogs. the ikea catalog is printed in

38 countries and largely looks the same, but there appears to be one major exception. in saudi arabia, the version that goes there, almost all of the women have been erased. the ad controversy was uncovered by the swedish newspaper "metro." sweden's minister of trade called the retouched images a, quote, sad example of women oppression. ikea says it regrets the cata g catalog. paolo gabrieli will be on trial by the vatican tribunal. he's accused of stealing documents from inside the vatican and giving it to a journalist. he said he did it to expose corruption in the vatican. he faces four years in prison if he's convicted. first unhappy pilots and cancelled flights. now american airlines is facing an faa investigation over broken seats. eight planes have been grounded after an entire row of seats came loose during two flights, one on saturday and one yesterday.

in both cases, the flights had to be diverted to new york's jfk airport. the airline says it could be a defect in a certain model of seats. passengers say this issue, on top of plummeting on time arrival numbers and rising cancellations is unacceptable. >> if they don't fly, i don't have a status on another airline. so it's a big issue for me. >> shakes my confidence as a passenger that i'm going to be able to get to my destination on time. >> american blames some of the issues on a feud with unions pilots, who say they are writing up trivial maintenance issues. the pilots say the nation's third largest carrier needs new planes. and while you were sleeping, amtrak crews are hard at work trying to repair tracks. a truck driver failed to stop at a passenger crossing and pushed two passenger cars and the locomotive off the tracks. out of the 169 people on board, at least 20 people were injured. the truck driver suffered only minor injuries. it seems the baltimore

ravens locker room of all places is becoming a hot spot for the debate on gay marriage. for the second time this season, a ravens player has gone public with his opinion on this issue. center matt burke wrote an op ed for his hometown paper, the minneapolis star-tribune supporting traditional marriage. minnesota, like maryland, will be voting on same-sex marriage this november. burke, who is a harvard grad said, "i hope that in voicing my beliefs i encourage people on both sides to use reason and charity as they enter this debate." coach john harbaugh was asked about the differing opinions in the locker room. >> as long as everybody respects everybody else's opinion, that's the main thing. we talk about politics, religion, all those kinds of things, movies, music. it's okay to have an opinion. it's really important to respect everybody else's opinion. >> a "baltimore sun" poll on sunday showed that support for

gay marriage outpaced the opposition among likely voters. coach makes a good point. civilized debate is always the way to go. >> that's what we do every day. >> yeah, right. >> tom kierein is here with our forecast. hi, tom. >> good morning. there is the washington monument and jefferson memorial. so far they are dry. just a few miles away, it's raining, and it's wet, and the pavement is wet. if you're coming in down through 70 or in from 66 this morning, all coming from a conveyor belt of rain associated with a front and an area of low pressure. right now closer to home, we're getting closer to moderate rain. right now raining pretty hard from right near burke, virginia, in western fairfax county through northern prince william from manassas to hay market, and then across northern fauquier county up through front royal. moderate rain in loudoun county, panhandle of west virginia too, and up toward hagerstown. this is going to be heading toward frederick in the next half hour. closer to washington, just a few sprinkles around the immediate metro area. some of those showers moving

right into the western suburbs. just near 60 montgomery, arlington, fairfax, prince george's counties. mid-60s at reagan national. near 70 near the bay. in the 50s at shenandoah valley and out in the mountains this morning. here's your storm team 4 four-day forecast. afternoon highs upper 70s. have an umbrella handy. we'll have occasional showers through the day and perhaps an afternoon thunder shower. i don't think we're going to have any severe weather. just maybe a little thunder and lightning with some of the passing showers. when you're heading back home from work and school. and then any shower activity should be tapering off and ending by midevening this evening. that's probably going to stall the start of the nats game. we'll certainly keep you posted on that. tomorrow partly sunny, feeling like summertime. humid, up into the low to mid-80s. thursday, friday, and most of saturday. maybe a shower saturday night into early sunday morning. cooler weather by then for sure. i'm back in ten minutes. danella here now with a look at

traffic. good morning. >> good morning. let's start things with the rails if you're planning to leave the house soon. not seeing any reported delays. metro looks good. marc, vre, running on or close to schedule. over to the roadways, positive news. traveling westbound. the ramp to 295 had a crash there blocking the ramp. the ramp has reopened. also checking 295, nice and clear. as you make your way bw parkway close to the beltway, working in either direction. as you make your way near kenilworth avenue, nice and clear. a nice travel speed, 58 miles per hour, nine minutes to get to i-95. back over to you. the peanut butter recall that started at trader joe's is expanding this morning. new mexico based sunland incorporated makes peanut butter for several retailers. they include cashew butter, t i tahini, and blanched and roasted peanut products. this includes products in 19 states, including maryland and virginia.

the products can be found at trader joe's, giant, whole foods, and target. sunland says they are expanding the recall as a precautionary measure because many of their products are made on the same equipment. 5:24 now. maybe that cup of coffee is not giving you the kind of boost you need in the morning anymore. maybe you should trade in your latte for some hiking boots. there's a new study that suggests hiking and spending time outdoors could be just what the doctor ordered. scientists at the university of utah say the part of our brain that controls creativity also controls our ability to multitask, retain information, and solve problems. outdoor enthusiasts agree that a break from the high tech world helps keep them going every day. >> i know, after i'm outside for three or four days, i come back to work, and my mind is clear. i'm refreshed and ready to focus. >> you just sort of take time to really observe what's around you, and you take in what really matters, i think. >> do i really need three or four days? >> i do. >> can i cut that down to like an hour? researchers say they found a 50%

boost in creativity for people who had been hiking for four days. >> i'll take it. >> it t's a lot of time in the wilderness. >> landmarks around the world and d.c. are showing their support for the fight against breast cancer. >> this morning the white house and buckingham palace are pink. the lights will remain on through october. this month's official proclamation to kick off breast cancer awareness month, president obama urges early screenings, including mammogr s mammograms, as a key to early detection. coming up, the problems drivers could face as they try to park in the district. and a political display that has a man's neighbors up in arms. the middle class, who move our country forward. work hard. raise families. and keep america strong. but mitt romney's budget plan will hurt the middle class. raising taxes on the average family by up to $2000 dollars.

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looking at the stories making headlines at 5:29, a somber anniversary marking ten years since the beltway sniper killing spree. d.c. college students on alert after several incidents involving young women being groped. the phone wars continue as samsung takes people to court trying to pull the iphone 5 off of store shelves.

we'll have much more on those stories throughout the morning. first, good morning to you. i'm eun yang. >> and i'm aaron gilchrist on this tuesday, october 2nd. the nationals are eastern division champions. the pirates just beat the braves 2-1. you can celebrate now. >> yes, sir. you heard him right. for the first time in 79 years a washington baseball team has clinched a title. the nationals won the n.l. east last night, and fans are still celebraselcelebrating this morn. news 4's megan mcgrath among them, live at the tasty diner. >> reporter: tasty diner, a local institution, opened in the 1930s. that's the last time a washington baseball team took a title. as you would imagine, big news here in this town, and it's the talk of the town. we've been talking to fans, and they are thrilled. >> i'm just excited. i'm excited because we have not

had a baseball team do well in this area for many, many years, probably since the senators were in, way before my time. i'm looking forward to it. i'm really excited. >> reporter: and all nats fans are very excited. they say it is about time. we're going to be here at the diner all morning long and bring you more fan reaction coming up later in the show. reporting live in bethesda, megan mcgrath, news 4. aaron, back to you. >> get some hash browns while you're there. >> scrambled eggs, short stack. >> just walk in there, and you can smell those aromas. >> i wasn't here yesterday. so welcome can bback, tom. >> good to be back. big area of rain that stretches from pennsylvania all the way down to florida. this is an area of low pressure rolling along the front.

right now raining hard in these areas of yellow and orange, loudoun, prince william, and northern fauquier getting a heavy downpour as well as the eastern panhandle of west virginia just east of winchester. this is all heading north/northeast. it's going to be passing just west of the beltway in fairfax county over the next half hour or so. and closer to montgomery county, a few sprinkles also as well as in frederick county. some of the heavy rain moving into montgomery west of howard. points south and east, mostly dry right now. a few more of those passing showers are possible as the day progresses. we're off to a cool start, low to mid-60s in the metro area. 50s west. hour by hour, need an umbrella throughout the day. temperatures by noontime, mid-70s. by mid to late afternoon, upper 70s. maybe thunder and lightning with those showers. i'm back in ten minutes with another look at storm team 4 radar. >> good morning. you mentioned showers earlier. we saw some along i-270.

the showers looked to be gone. but the delays are growing out of frederick, as you make your way southbound. i want to give you a live look as you pass 109. the roads still wet in this area. looks like the rain isn't coming down. let's talk about delays as you travel i-270 southbound. slow from frederick. slow past 109. once you get to 95 and close to clarksburg road, the lanes open up. nice and clear commute. here's a live look at germantown. not bad. very light volume at this time from germantown to rockville, and no accidents. over to the rails, checking them still. not seeing any delays from the metro, marc, or vre. nice and clear. today the d.c. council will reconsider an overhaul of handicapped parking in the city. council member mary chay will reintroduce it. right now anyone with a handicapped tag can park free at

any meter. with the new meters, handicapped people can park at red meters, about you they must pay for them. the council have already approved the expansion of the washington metropolitan airport authority's board. with approval by the d.c. council, it would grow from 13 to 17 members. d.c. chamber of commerce president barbara lang has already been vetted and would be put on the board immediately. a woman is asking metro to install guard rails on platforms after her motorized scooter malfunctioned. karen jones says her scooter started running in circles at the eastern market station back in july, and nobody could stop it. that scooter eventually threw her onto the tracks. >> i was hollering. i was like somebody help me, please. but couldn't nobody catch the chair. and when the chair stopped, bam, it threw me over on the tracks.

>> in a statement, metro tells us safety is its number one priority, but guard rails would block access to get on the trains at the platform and could be a safety hazard causing people to trip. american university is warning students to be on alert after a string of incidents where a man has groped students near campus. four incidents reported last week. the most recent one on sunday night near massachusetts avenue. police say the suspect comes up from behind, grabs girls inappropriately, and then runs away. au is asking students to walk in groups and only in well-lit areas. police say a medical emergency is to blame for a freak accident that killed a local professor. brett leverett was killed when a car jumped the curb and hit him when he was walking his dog yesterday morning. leverett was a professor at marymount university and a fixture in that district northwest. his dog was not hurt and issing cared for by a neighbor. mitt romney says he would

not deport undocumented immigrants who can stay in the u.s. because of an executive order the president signed. the immigrants can earn a two-year visa if they came to this country before they were 16 and are still 30 years old or younger and meet other criteria. romney criticized president obama earlier this year for signing the executive order during an election year. he also said he'd veto legislation that would provide a path to citizenship for some immigrants who benefited from that executive order. the vice presidential candidates are battling in battleground states. paul ryan set to visit three iowa towns. vice president joe biden will visit north carolina. residents in roanoke, virginia, say an anti-obama display has gone too far. they say is bordered on racism. a man called curtis caldwell has put up a statue on his front line. it's of a monkey wearing an obama mask. next to the monkey is a sign that says no bama and a confederate flag. neighbors want it taken down.

caldwell says the message is not racist, and the only message he wants to send is that obama needs to go. >> not trying to say obama is an ape or nothing. if i had a kangaroo, i'd put a kang rye up there. i had the monkey. i bought that long ago in florida. i think we need to get him out of office. that's the primary thing i'm trying to say. get this man out of office. >> caldwell says he used the skeleton to mock the president in another display he had up four years ago, but the skeleton fell apart. he decided to use the monkey inste instead. >> it is 5:37 on this tuesday morning. a twist in the ongoing rivalry between maryland and virginia's governors. the unusual challenge being made this morning. [ male announcer ] for the dreamers...

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pnc bank. [monotone] she says, "switch to progressive and you could save hundreds." call or click today. welcome back. the world famous hollywood sign is getting a makeover. it will be stripped down to bare metal, primed, and given a new coat of white paint. the sign gets ready to celebrate its 90th birthday next year. it was unveiled in 1923 as a way to promote real estate development called hollywood land. the word land was removed in

1949. >> have you seen that up close? >> not real up close, but i've seen it. >> i went out there earlier this year, and you can drive almost right out there without getting into a dangerous area. >> looks like it needs a fresh coat? >> it could use some paint, for sure. 64 degrees outside our studios and a lot of clouds in this picture. tom, what is that telling us? >> we've got low clouds producing a few sprinkles. storm team 4 radar, those areas in the yellow and orange is west and northwest of washington. raining pretty hard in fairfax and fauquier and montgomery and loudoun counties. heading off farther to the north. and hometown forecast, mitchellville, prince george's county. passing showers by mid-60s noon time, low 70s, and thunder and lightning as well as during the afternoon. this will continue into this evening. i'll be back in ten minutes with another update. danella has a look at traffic. good morning. >> good morning. thanks, tom.

traveling in our area making your commute on 50 from bowie to the beltway. as you make your way past 410 n inbound no issues on new york avenue. outbound, no incidents to report. not bad. 59 miles per hour northbound. aaron and eun, back over to you. >> thank you, danella. 5:42. still to come, fighting for their homes. the action this group is taking to protect themselves from the foreclosure crisis.

prince william county church leaders are making progress in the fight against foreclosure in that hard hit county. virginiians organized for interfaith community engagement, or voice, drew more than 700 people at a meeting at woodbridge church. their goal to hold banks' feet to the fire in the hopes of

getting a $350 billion settlement. they got a promise from bank of america. a $5 million investment into affordable housing in the community. >> we made that $5 million commitment, and we look forward to launching it as soon as we possibly can. >> it's awful hard to turn down priests, ministers, rabbis, and other religious leaders when they ask us to answer this call. >> there are 25,000 foreclosures and counting in the county. voice hopes to secure between $300 million and $500 million to help those affected. a baltimore high school student is in critical condition after being stabbed at school. the stabbing happened yesterday morning inside heritage high school. police say they are questioning one person in the investigation. this comes as another student is facing charges for shooting another student on the first day of school. 15-year-old robert gladden is being charged as an attempted

murder for assault. and a man refused to waive his right to an extradition hearing, which means it could be more than a month before anthony taglianetti is turned over to authorities in new york. he was arrested by u.s. marshals on friday. he is accused of killing clymer superintendent keith reed jr. back on september 1st. he is charged with second degree murder. d.c. now has its own state of the art crime lab right here in the district. the building located on the national mall southwest officially opened yesterday. it has facilities for testing firearms, running flu tests, and analyzing chemicals in potential terror attacks. the building is a very welcome addition to the city. until now, d.c. had to rely on the fbi crime lab at quantico for most detailed analyses. >> the potential that this building gives to the district of columbia to increase, improve, and expand its ability to do friends i can analysis to solve crimes is just enormous.

>> the project cost $210 million and took three years to construct. a man robbed a frederick county bank saying he had a mom. surveillance footage shows the man wearing a ravens shirt, walking into the frederick county bank in walkersville. the man gave the teller a note saying hedema demanddemand ed money. he got away with an undisclosed amount of cash. surveillance cameras rolled as a group approached a man leaving a restaurant on friday. they asked him for a cigarette, then punched him in the face. the victim fell to the ground, dropping his cell phone and his wallet. he then got up and ran while the group took his belongings. this morning the search continues for two other suspects involved in that holdup. the nation's largest public university has a new president. javier miaras has been named

president of the university of maryland college. he has been serving as acting president since february when previous president susan aldridge resigned in may. umc specializing in online education of students, more than half are military members and their families. council chairman phil mendelson plans to introduce an amendment to district charter today that would grant the city budget autonomy. d.c. leaders have asked for budget autonomy for years, but congress has refused to give up control. it would go to voter referendum. if that is approved, both congress and the president would have to approve. this is the last chance to put a casino in prince george's county for several years. governor o'malley says he won't take up gambling again in his tenure. voters will vote to approve a

gambling bill. it would put a casino in prince george's county and table games at all maryland casinos. o'malley is showing off political muscle literally in a challenge to virginia governor bob mcdonnell. the maryland governor invited mcdonnell to a debate and other competitions on wtop. >> we can have a discussion about how we can work together to create jobs and opportunity now, and it can be followed immediately by a push-up contest. >> what? >> where did that come from? >> a mcdonnell spokesperson called the offer nice but rej t rejected the democratic governor's invitation, saying we have our gubernatorial version of a push-up contest. it's called state unemployment rates. spoiler alert, virginia wins. virginia's unemployment rate jumped to 5.9%. maryland went up to 7%. a minor league baseball team could soon be playing ball

nearby ashton. the loudoun hounds plan to build a stadium at 1 loudoun. they're also close to buying a team in the north american soccer league. that stadium could host the team l s as well. the stadium will seat 10,000 fans. >> 5:41 is our time. time for traffic and weather on the ones. we're talking sports a little bit. tom is holding up the t-shirt. how did you get that so fast? >> they're out really quickly. usually i hold up school visit t-shirts. this one i'm happy to hold up says washington nationals 2012 national league east division champions. >> congratulations, guys. >> this is real. this is actually happened. it's so exciting. there were showers threatening the game last night. didn't dampen the enthusiasm. look who was up bright and early yesterday morning. this was a harbinger of things to come. bryce harper tweeted out this photo of a sunrise from his high rise. this was yesterday morning.

he was up at predawn yesterday morni morning. >> imagine that. >> he kind of knew it was going to be an exciting day. this morning it's all cloudy because we've got a conveyor belt of rain. storm team 4 radar showing that rain advancing from south to north all across the region. getting moderate showers to heavy downpours in loudoun county near ashburn and into fairfax county. these areas of yellow and orange raining pretty hard in montgomery county. right along 270 from the beltway all the way to frederick and hagerstown. it's raining pretty hard into frederick county. this is all passing north. then it's going to taper off a bit. a few passing light showers over the next couple of hours. and on the mild side. low to mid-60s around the immediate metro area and the suburbs. farther west, shenandoah valley into the blue ridge and the mountains, low to mid-50s. still showers around, cool and calm and low and mid-60s by lunch hour. noontime temperatures, low to mid-70s. may need an umbrella for your

lunch hour. darting around your car and heading out to lunch, might have a few passing showers. maybe dodging some lightning bolts. might have a few passing thunder showers. upper 70s before those arrive. they'll be dissipating by early evening. hot and humid day tomorrow for october. low to mid-80s. gorgeous. turning cooler over the weekend. might get showers saturday into sunday morning. i'm back with storm team 4 radar in ten minutes. first 4 traffic with danella. starting to get a little bumpy in your commute. wet roads, seeing fender benders. start with a disabled car on the inner loop of the beltway at university boulevard. disabled vehicle is blocking the right lane. over to virginia for some accidents. 28 as you make your way northbound trying to get on the ramp to eastbound 66. left lane is blocked by the crash there. slow 66. i'm going to give you a live look as you make your way past

sudley road. rain is coming down, and you are jammed. let's head over to angie goff standing by at the live desk with breaking news. i'm at the news 4 live desk with breaking news out of iraq. five people are dead after two separate incidents near the city of kirkuk. officials say three street sweepers stumbled onto a bomb this morning. the blast killed three. also today, police found two bodies, including that of a district administrator. they appear to be shot. an investigation is under way. kirkuk is about 180 miles from ba baghdad and has been an area of a lot of violence. reporting from the news 4 live desk, angie goff, news 4. six minutes now before the top of the hour. traffic camera fines in d.c. may soon be less of a burden on your wallet. d.c. council member mary shay says a task force she chairs will take a look at lowering the $100 fine most camera offenders

pay. ticket charges have gone up as much as 100% the last four years. many argue it's there to collect revenue, not encourage safe driving. geico now sponsoring safe phone zones at highway rest stops. the gecko encourages people to pull over at a rest stop to use their cell phone or text instead of being distracted on the open road. geico is also paying to keep the rest areas open. virginia is the first state to have the rest stops sponsored. jp morgan chase hit with a lawsuit. the suit alleges that bear stearns perpetrated massive fraud that contributed to the housing market meltdown. a new york attorney general says bear stearns led people to believe the stocks were continuously monitored, and that was not the case. jp morgan chase purchased bear

stearns shortly after the market collapsed. they plan to contest the allegations. will there be enough shoppers to keep holiday stores busy this year? shartia brantley with more on that story. >> many good morning, eun. americans may decide to spend money this holiday season, but they may not shop till they drop. sales forecast to rise 4.1% this year. that's more than a percentage point lower than the past two years and would be the slowest growth since 2009, when sales rose just .3%. the nrs says consumers are feeling better about the rebounding stock market and rising home prices, but that's being offset by weak job growth and higher food and gas prices. google has come a long way from its humble beginnings as a tiny search engine created by two stanford grad students. it's now passed microsoft to become the world's second most valuable tech company behind apple. google's stock closed at an all

time high of $761 on monday. it is now the dominant force in online advertising with two-thirds of the u.s. search market. guys, google's android software powers 64% of all smartphones. >> shartia brantley. shartia, thank you. the takoma park, maryland man known as the world's best dad is at it again. >> we love his pictures. david engeldow is adding a new collection of photographs with his daughter alice b. let's say alice b. had no intention of sitting still during the interview at that time. engeldow created this picture in a thank you to the "today" show staff. he said he's having alice study tape of the show, and she's going to have to write an essay on how to behave on national television. >> very, very cute. >> good luck with that essay. >> alice b. is young. you can't expect a little toddler to sit still for very

long. it's a lot to expect. their attention spans aren't that good. you know what i'm saying? >> it is 5:57.